Updated 12:33 am, Tuesday, May 23, 2017

That confidence was certainly warranted on Monday, when Patty and Willis earned victories in Midland’s 10-0 (six innings) and 3-1 sweep of Dow High in Saginaw Valley League play at the Chemics’ field.

Patty allowed two hits in four shutout innings in the opener, and Willis allowed one run on five hits while striking out 11 in a complete game in the nightcap.

“Credit our starting pitchers for doing their job, and Jordan and Garrett have been tough for us all year,” Albright said. “I would expect nothing less when we’re facing Dow High in a city rivalry game.”

Willis credited Midland’s defense for giving him and Patty the confidence to just throw strikes.

“We just know we have a good defense behind us, and if we pound the strike zone, the guys behind us are bound to make the plays,” Willis said. “That gives the pitcher a sense of confidence, knowing that, even if you have to pitch to contact, your players behind you are going to make the plays for you.”

The win puts Midland in good position to win the SVL title at 15-3, and the Chemics are 26-5 overall. They finish league play on Thursday with a doubleheader at Davison.

Saginaw Heritage and Mount Pleasant split a doubleheader on Monday, putting the Chemics a half game ahead of the Oilers (14-3 SVL) in first place. Mount Pleasant will host Flint Powers in a doubleheader on Thursday and will complete a suspended game next week with Dow in which the Chargers are ahead 6-1.

Dow fell to 9-11 in the league and 17-15-1 for the season.

While not satisfied with the outcome, Dow coach Rich Juday saw some good signs from his Chargers.

"We played good baseball," he said. "A couple of things we did in game two defensively allowed them to score some runs; otherwise, maybe we win that game. Our guys learn in every single game. ... I told the guys, 'Hey, you lose 10-0 in game one and come back and end up losing 3-1 and being in a battle, (so that shows improvement).

"We have to continue to improve. It's a process to get this program back where we want it to be. And we're getting there. I'm very impressed with the way this team has responded to our coaching," Juday added.

In game one, Patty and Dow starting pitcher Connor Moe kept both teams off the board until the bottom of the third, when Midland struck for two runs with two outs.

Patty singled to center and scored on a double to right by Martin Money that the rightfielder appeared to lose sight of in the sun. Greg Landis followed with a solid double to right-center to make it 2-0.

The Chemics then blew the game open with seven runs in the fourth. Brendan Doyle doubled home Willis and scored on Zack Servinski's single. Lane Peters replaced Moe and walked two batters to load the bases with two outs. Greg Landis singled home two runs, and his younger brother, Jeff Landis, followed with a 365-foot three-run homer to right to make it 9-0.

Jeff Landis, a sophomore, leads the Chemics with four home runs this season."He's a big, strong kid, and maybe the best news for him is that he's a 10th-grader, and he's only now learning how to hit," Albright said of Jeff Landis. " ... He's going to be a good player for us for a couple of years, no doubt."

The Chemics ended the game by the mercy rule in the sixth when Jeff Landis doubled and scored on a double by Willis.

"We had a couple tough breaks," Juday said. "You don't feel like you lost 10-0. We did a couple things defensively that hurt us, and offensively we couldn't get enough hits in a row to push any runs across the plate."

Greg Landis and Jeff Landis both had two hits and three runs batted in. David Brandon had a single and a walk to lead Dow on offense.

Moe took the loss, giving up five runs on six hits in 3 1/3 innings.

Chance Freed and Liam Grady each pitched one scoreless inning in relief for Midland.

The Chargers got off to a strong start in the second game, going up 1-0 in the top of the first when Zach Nelson singled and came around to score on singles by Moe and Caden Skinner.

Midland went ahead 2-1 in the third. Servinski walked and took second on Patty's single. Money singled home Servinski, and then Money and Patty advanced to second and third on an error on the play. Two outs later, Patty scored on a wild pitch.

The Chemics added an insurance run in the fourth when Patty walked with the bases loaded. That was enough offense for Willis, who allowed only two baserunners — on two singles — over the final six innings.

"He had good command of his changeup," Albright said. "His ability to change speeds has made him one of the best pitchers in the conference."

Albright said that the significance of getting two wins over Dow cannot be overstated.

"Any time you have a chance to win two games in this rivalry doubleheader, that's huge," he said. "You can't take that for granted. Dow High is a good baseball team. We did some things today that we need to work on and they could have capitalized on."

Willis feels that the Chemics are playing well heading into the playoffs next week.

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"(Our) chemistry feels really great. Everyone on the team gets along great," he said. "We seem to be clicking at the right time, so, hopefully, we can keep that going."